Page 14 — Thursday, October 14, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
Saxons get early start to week eight
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
It is a different end to the regular season
schedule ahead for the Hastings Saxons.
The Saxons will look to finish off a second
straight Interstate-8 Athletic Conference
Championship on Thursday night when they
travel to Coldwater to take on the Cardinals.
Hastings, Harper Creek and Jackson Lumen
Christi remain tied atop the I-8 standings with
5-1 conference records.
Lumen Christi will take on Parma Western
this weekend and Harper Creek faces
Marshall.
The Saxons have won two in a row since
falling to the Titans in week five of the sea-
son, and head to Coldwater with the I-8’s top
scoring offense to face the Cardinals who
have fallen to Western and Harper Creek in
back-to-back weeks.
Delton Kellogg has won three in a row
around a week six cancellation with
Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley
Division foe Lawton. The Panthers are out-
side the conference this Friday hosting
Allegan for the final home game of the regu-
lar season at Delton Kellogg.
The rest of the local teams are coming off
tough losses to outstanding foes from last
weekend. Lakewood, Thornapple Kellogg
and Maple Valley were all bested by teams
leading their respective conferences last
weekend – Olivet, Grand Rapids Catholic
Central and Britton-Deerfield who are a com-
bined 20-1 this season.
Thornapple Kellogg goes on the road look-
ing for its second OK Gold Conference win
of the season against a winless Wayland team
this Friday night.
Lakewood has finished off the Greater
Lansing Activities Conference season and
will travel to face Charlotte Friday. The
Vikings’ long-time Lansing area rivals are
4-3 on the season, and the Orioles are the
only team to have bested the GLAC champi-
ons from Olivet this season. Charlotte scored
a 49-40 win over the Eagles in week one of
the season.
Maple Valley, which finished in a three-
way tie for third place in the Tri-River 8-Man
Football Conference will be on the road at
Webberville Friday. Both teams are looking
to turn things around. The Spartans haven’t
won since week one, and had their own rough
outings in recent weeks against Britton-
Deerfield and Portland St. Patrick.
Local Standings (W-L, playoff points)
Hastings 6-1 (55.000)
Delton Kellogg 4-2 (31.857)
Lakewood 4-3 (26.143)
Maple Valley (8-player) 2-
Thornapple Kellogg 1-6 (28.429)
Conference Standings
(overall, conference)
Interstate 8 Athletic Conference
Lumen Christi 6-1, 5-
Hastings 6-1, 5-
Harper Creek 5-2, 5-
Coldwater 3-4, 3-
Parma Western 5-2, 4-
Pennfield 2-5, 1-
Marshall 2-5, 1-
Northwest 1-6, 0-
OK Gold Conference
G.R. Catholic Central 7-0, 5-
Cedar Springs 6-1, 5-
Kenowa Hills 3-4, 2-
South Christian 5-2, 4-
Forest Hills Eastern 3-4, 2-
Ottawa Hills 2-5, 1-
Thornapple Kellogg 1-6, 1-
Wayland 0-7, 0-
Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley
Lawton 7-0, 1-
Delton Kellogg 4-2, 2-
Saugatuck 4-3, 1-
Schoolcraft 2-4, 1-
Galesburg-Augusta 0-7, 0-
Greater Lansing Activities Conference
Olivet 5-2, 4-
Lakewood 4-3, 3-
Leslie 3-4, 2-
Perry 2-5, 1-
Stockbridge 2-5, 0-
Tri-River 8-Man Football Conference
Britton-Deerfield 7-0, 4-
NorthPointe Christian 5-2, 3-
Concord 2-5, 1-
Maple Valley 2-5, 1-
Vandercook Lake 2-5, 1-
Here is a round-up of last week’s local
gridiron action.
Hastings 66, Jackson Northwest 18
Valerie Slaughter
Contributing Writer
Hastings had a successful homecoming
game Friday night at Baum Stadium and
Johnson Field as the Saxons rolled over the
Mounties from Jackson Northwest 66–18.
The Saxon varsity football team scored in
the first 12 seconds of the game on a 56-yard
pass play from Mason Denton to TJ Russell,
and then held the Mounties to get the ball
back and scored again with 10:16 still in the
first quarter on a 30-yard run from Robby
Slaughter. Slaughter also ran in the two-point
conversion to put the Saxons up 14-0.
Lightning put an hour delay on the game
with a minute left in the first quarter, when
the game resumed Jackson scored on their
first drive on a 40-yard run by Isaiah
Grybauskas.
In the second quarter, the Saxons scored 4
touchdowns, three of them by Russell on a
1-yard, 27-yard and 38-yard run. Lanny
Teunessen also had a 7-yard touchdown and
three of the two-point conversions. Daniel
Harp also had a two-point conversion. The
Mounties were able to put another score on
the board by an additional run by Grybauskas,
but at the half the Saxons led 32 – 6.
At the top of the third quarter Slaughter ran
in an 81-yard touchdown and Russell picked
up his fifth touchdown of the night on a
42-yard run. Victor Ramirez made the extra
point kick to put the Saxons up 59-12.
Sophomore Hayden Simmet was the sole
Saxon scorer in the final quarter with a
52-yard touchdown, and Grybauskas com-
pleted a pass to JR Morrow for the final score
of the game to put the final score at 66–18.
The Saxons rushed for 472 yards on the
night with Russell leading with 172 yards on
14 carries, Slaughter also had 113 yards on 3
carries, Simmet added 52 yards and Harp
added 42 yards.
On defense, Layton Eastman picked off
another interception for the season, and
Jackson Dubois added a sack for the night.
Teunessen and Dubois led the team in tack-
les with 5 each and Collin Fouty had 4
tackles for the night. The Saxons again had
a team contribution on defense with 22
different Saxons picking up tackles for the
team.
Hastings remains tied for the lead in the
Interstate-8 Athletic Conference with a 6-
record on the season. The Saxons will travel
to Coldwater on Thursday to face the
Cardinals who are 3–4 on the season.
Delton Kellogg 15, Saugatuck 14
Delton Kellogg right guard Luke Watson
pulled around from left to right to help tack-
le Adrian DeBoer seal the left edge, with an
extra push from back Ricky Ramsey as he
plowed through on his fake towards the end
zone.
It took a little bit of everything from every-
body.
Quarterback Philip Halcomb got the ball in
the belly of Corey Moore, and Moore ducked
through the hole made by his teammates and
did then did the rest on his own.
Moore scored on a 12-yard run, spinning
away from one Saugatuck tackler at the five
and then carrying another across the goal-
line, to get his team within 14-13 of the
Trailblazers with 4:12 to play in the home-
coming football game at Delton Kellogg
High School Friday.
Halcomb got the rest of the work done,
beating three Saugatuck defenders to the left
pylon for the two-point conversion that gave
the Panthers a 15-14 win over the Trailblazers
in Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley
Division action.
The Panther defense finished off the victo-
ry eventually, stuffing a fourth-and-one run at
its own 14-yard-line to finally end Saugatuck’s
chances of retaking the lead.
Moore had ten carries for 55 yards on the
night. That 12-yard TD run was his longest
carry of the evening. DK starting quarterback
Philip Halcomb rushed 11 times for 54 yards.
That game-winning drive by the Panthers
got a big boost from a pair of unsportsman-
like conduct penalties against Saugatuck after
the Trailblazers had smothered a Delton
Kellogg run on a third-and-five near midfield
in the backfield. The ball moved from a
fourth-and-long at the Trailblazer 49 to a
first-and-ten at the Trailblazer 24.
Saugatuck senior running back Benny Diaz
had scored in the opening minute of the
fourth quarter on a three-yard run to put his
team in front 14-7 with the addition of the
extra-point kick.
DK also had Ramsey record seven rushes
for 45 yards, Mason Nabozny 11 rushes for
37 yards and Quick eight rushes for 35 yards
in the ballgame.
After a lengthy lightning delay, the two
teams played through a scoreless first quarter.
DK took the initial advantage on a three-yard
TD run by Quick early in the second quarter
and then recovered the ensuing kickoff and
threatened to score again before the
Trailblazer defense stood up in the shadow of
its own goal.
Saugatuck then put together a 99-yard
scoring drive to even the game at 7-7. It wasa quick drive that ended on a 60-yard TD run
by Diaz.
Grand Rapids Catholic Central 51,
Thornapple Kellogg 0
The top ranked team in the state in Division
5 kept its OK Gold Conference and overall
records perfect by scoring a 51-0 win over the
Thornapple Kellogg varsity football team
Friday in Middleville.
The Cougars took a 44-0 lead in the open-
ing half.
Senior John Passinault completed 10-of-
passes for 131 yards and three touchdowns,
and his replacement tossed two more touch-
down passes in the second half.
The Cougars amassed 303 yards of offense
in the ballgame.
Thornapple Kellogg quarterback Carsen
Burbridge was 7-of-17 passing for 95 yards.
Senior Matthew Middleton, another Trojan
QB, had a team high five rushes for 28 yards
in the ballgame. The top target fo the TK
QB’s was sophomore tight end Jaxan Sias
who had two catches for 66 yards.
The Cougars also scored a safety on a
Trojan punt attempt and returned a sec-
ond-half interception for a touchdown.
Olivet 37, Lakewood 0
Lakewood High School athletic director
Mike Quinn turned his attention away from
Unity Field momentarily in the second half to
collect the Greater Lansing Activities
Conference Championship trophy, and stood
cradling it in his arms on the sideline.
The trophy wasn’t staying.
Olivet clinched its fifth consecutive Greater
Lansing Activities Conference Championship
with a dominant performance over the
Lakewood varsity football team following an
hour and a half lightning delay.
The Eagles were in control even before the
dark clouds started spitting electricity. Olivet
had a 6-0 lead when the game paused half a
minute into the second quarter.
When the teams returned to the field the
Eagles went 46 yards in five plays to score on
a 14-yard run by quarterback Tyler Flower.
Soyer Moon had finished off the first Eagle
drive of the game, in the opening quarter,
with a one-yard TD plunge.
The kicking game was the bright spot for
the Vikings early on. Kicker Connor Feighan
blasted the opening kickoff off an Eagle
upman and the ball was recovered by the
Vikings’ Justin Warner. Lakewood also
knocked down the Eagles’ first extra-point
attempt of the ballgame.
Flower added an 18-yard TD run and a
16-yard touchdown pass to teammate Blake
Lincoln in the second quarter, and then
scored on a 46-yard run on his team’s first
snap of the second half.
Hito Gallimore intercepted a pass by
Viking quarterback Nathan Willette from
the Eagles’ 25 on a fourth down after that
initial special teams turnover. Lakewood got
inside the Eagle 30-yard-line two more
times on the night but could never find the
end zone.
Willette had a 49-yard run early in the sec-
ond half that had the Vikings to the Olivet 21,
but the Eagle defense stopped a couple runs
the Vikings couldn’t quite hold onto a third
down pass at the pylon to get into the end
zone.
Willette had ten rushes for 111 yards on the
evening. Denny Sauers chipped in nine car-
ries for 40 yards and had a team-high ten
tackles on defense.
Britton-Deerfield 61, Maple Valley 8
Britton-Deerfield clinched in the inaugural
Tri-River 8-Man Football Conference
Championship with a 61-8 win over visiting
Maple Valley Saturday.
The Patriots kept their record perfect at 7-
overall by finishing off its sweep of the five-
team conference. They outscored their fourDelton Kellogg quarterback Philip Halcomb follows a block by running back Vincent
quick during their homecoming win over Saugatuck Friday in Delton. (Photo by Perry
Hardin)Hastings defender Lanny Teunessen goes in for a tackle on a Northwest ballcarrier
in a downpour during the Saxons' homecoming win over the visiting Mounties inside
Baum Stadium at Johnson Field Friday. (Photo by Jason Slaughter)Olivet quarterback Clay Flower (12) tries to fight off a tackle attempt by Lakewood's
Nathan Willette during their GLAC showdown on Unity Field at Lakewood High School
Friday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Delton Kellogg quarterback Torren Mapes takes a bootleg around the left side for a
gain during the Panthers 15-14 win over visiting Saugatuck Friday in Delton. (Photo
by Perry Hardin)See FOOTBALL, page 15